Kathleen Conlon, President, is an activist, artist, raconteur, advocate, and ally. She has had a relationship with New Orleans which transcends over four decades. In the 1980’s, she performed in many local venues, including Le Petite Children’s Corner, the CAC, Theater Marigny, the Pitt Theater, and the Bamboo Room, which hosted many satirical productions produced by Bob Bruce and David Cuthbert. She was the only female member of the performance art/drag group “Demented Women,” which was based at the Golden Lantern bar and boasted many Southern Decadence Grand Marshals, including herself. Upon the onset of the AIDS crisis, “Demented Women” staged shows throughout the French Quarter to raise money for stricken individuals with no recourse, including those living at Lazarus House. The AIDS epidemic profoundly affected her. Coming on the heel of her Father’s demise, it was especially devastating. Her French Quarter “family” became decimated. Encouraged to follow her dream of living and acting in New York. She joined ACTUP NYC in 1989. During this time, she also appeared in many Off-Off-Broadway productions, eventually producing her own one woman shows. A contemporary admiring her vocal ability/performance dubbed her “Divaqueen,” which became her alter ego. This was during the infamous ART STAR era of the Lower East Side and morphed into her own four-year television show on MNN. This was halted by her move back to her native Massachusetts to care for her bedridden mother until her demise six years later. Conlon is currently working on separate projects reflecting her experiences. She is grateful to serve as President of the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana, thus assuring the collective memory of all her friends who were felled by the AIDS epidemic are not forgotten.
Kathleen Conlon
